Weekends and Visas...

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So let's see... what's new? I'm officially allowed to be in Ecuador now! I had to register my visa because it's a 6-month one instead of the normal 3 month one but now everything's done! Woohoo!

Friday once again the teachers weren't at school. I'm starting to see a pattern here... We made valentines day cards with the kids for them to give to their parents and then did a bunch of different types of relay races. In the evening we had another movie night at the GVI House after walking through the pouring rain.

Saturday was more exploring of the market and Otavalo, sleeping in, and relaxing. In the evening we (Elysia, George, Kate and I) went to La Jampa again. We were going to go to Jalajala down the street to try something new but it was more expensive and we're cheapskates... There were way more people than last time! I think mainly because it was Saturday instead of Friday and Saturday is the big night here, but also because it was Valentine's Day. At one point there was a live band which was good, but then at another point there was just a guy singing along with a recording. That we could've done without. It was rather terrible! The whole night was fun though! Lots of dancing!

Sunday the same 4 of us went for a hike. We were trying to go over the hill to Lago San Pablo on the other side. However, we went up the wrong stairs at the beginning so it was hopeless from there. We ended up wandering around some streets and some peoples' back yards for a couple hours trying to find a way up and over. Eventually it started pouring and we decided to head back to Otavalo. It was hilarious and a lot of fun though! We were more meandering and talking than full-out hiking and we were laughing the vast majority of the time. Definitely one of my favorite days!
In the evening we had a meet and greet with the new volunteers at the pie shop. Tracy is back with them so our numbers over doubled! We have 2 new interns, one guy who's going to be building stoves, and 6 new volunteers. We went from 7 for the past couple weeks to 17! They all seem really nice and it should be fun to get to know them, but change is always weird at first. Especially since we went from being such a small group to such a big one so fast! And next week 5 or 6 more are coming!
One of the new volunteers, Susan, is living with me. I haven't talked to her that much but she seems nice! It's different to have someone else there though after being on my own for so long! I've been here a month already! That's crazy to think about! Each day seems to go by relatively slowly, but overall it has flown by! I'm already a quarter of the way done! Weird!

Today I didn't go to school; instead I went into Quito to get my ID card for my visa. Giovani from the spanish school took in my passport last week to get it registered so all I had to do was get the ID. When I got to the bus terminal I told the taxi I needed to go to the Policía de Migración on Amazoñas y República. He said that they had moved to a new location only a couple weeks ago. I persisted and said that I wanted to go to the other office but he and a couple other people all said it had moved so I ended up going to the new place. Sure enough, it was a new office, but the old one was still functioning and that was where I needed to go. So an extra 40 minutes and cab fare later (luckily they're cheap here) I finally got to the right place only to find out that not only did I need my passport, I also needed copies of my 4 different stamps and a picture. Luckily there was a shop next door that could do all of that (I'm sure it happens to stupid tourists like me all the time). But I finally got it all sorted and now I'm official! Then I wandered around Amazoñas for a while, the main tourist street in town, except I was way down at one end of it so there wasn't that much to do and it was practically pouring so it wasn't much fun to walk around outside. I got some amazing chocolate cake though to celebrate getting everything done! Then another 2.5 hour bus ride back to Otavalo. And now here I am!

So there you go, all caught up. Happy Valentines day everyone!

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Comments

[Ethan]

Same to you Eryn!